12 Bible Verses about Envy

{A Psalm of David} Fret not thyself because of the ungodly; neither be thou envious against the evil doers.

Love suffereth long, and is courteous. Love envieth not. Love doth not forwardly, swelleth not,

Let us walk honestly as it were in the daylight: not in eating and drinking: neither in chambering and wantonness: neither in strife and envying:

Let us not be vainglorious, provoking one another, and envying one another.

Follow not a wicked man, and choose none of his ways:

And they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, "Ye have done enough. For all the multitude are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why therefore heave ye yourselves up above the congregation of the LORD?"

Wherefore the princes and lords sought to pick out in Daniel some quarrel against the kingdom: yet could they find none occasion nor fault upon him. For why? He was so faithful, that there was no blame nor dishonesty found in him.

but unto Cain and unto his offering, looked he not. And Cain was wroth exceedingly, and lowered.

that he had possession of sheep, of oxen, and a mighty household; so that the Philistines had envy at him,

And his brethren hated him, but his father noted the saying.

{A Psalm of David} Fret not thyself because of the ungodly; neither be thou envious against the evil doers. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and be withered even as the green herb.

Be not thou jealous over wicked men, and desire not thou to be among them. For their heart imagineth to do hurt, and their lips talk of mischief.

Follow not a wicked man, and choose none of his ways:

Let not thine heart be jealous to follow sinners; but keep thee still in the fear of the LORD all the day long:

Let us walk honestly as it were in the daylight: not in eating and drinking: neither in chambering and wantonness: neither in strife and envying:

Wherefore, lay aside all maliciousness, and all guile, and dissimulation, and envy, and all backbiting:

Let us not be vainglorious, provoking one another, and envying one another.

{A Psalm of David} Fret not thyself because of the ungodly; neither be thou envious against the evil doers.

And why? I was grieved at the wicked, to see the ungodly in such prosperity.

until I went into the Sanctuary of God. Then understood I the end of these men. Namely, how thou hast set them in a slippery places, that thou mayest cast them down headlong and destroy them. O how suddenly do they consume, perish and come to a fearful end! read more.
Yea, even like as a dream when one awaketh, so makest thou their image to vanish out of the city.

And I could not speak unto you brethren as unto spiritual: but as unto carnal, even as it were unto babes in Christ.

For ye are yet carnal. As long verily as there is among you envying, strife and dissension: are ye not carnal, and walk after the manner of men?

Then gathered the high priests and the Pharisees a council and said, "What do we? This man doeth many miracles.

For he knew that the high priests had delivered him of envy.

For he knew well, that for envy they had delivered him.

A merry heart is the life of the body; but rancor consumeth away the bones.

Name me one else, if thou can find any: yea, look about thee upon any of the holy men. As for the foolish man, displeasure killeth him; and anger slayeth the ignorant.

envying, murder, drunkenness, gluttony, and such like. Of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which commit such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Either do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, "The spirit that dwelleth in you, lusteth even contrary to envy,"

When his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak one kind word unto him. Moreover, Joseph dreamed a dream and told it his brethren: wherefore they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, "Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed. read more.
Behold, we were making sheaves in the field: and lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and yours stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf." Then said his brethren unto him, "What, shalt thou be our king or shalt thou reign over us?" And they hated him yet the more, because of his dream and of his words. And he dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren, saying, "Behold, I have had one dream more: me thought the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me." And when he had told it unto his father and his brethren, his father rebuked him, and said unto him, "What meaneth this dream which thou hast dreamed: shall I and thy mother and thy brethren come and fall on the ground before thee?" And his brethren hated him, but his father noted the saying.

and said one to another, "Behold, this dreamer cometh; come now and let us slay him and cast him into some pit, and let us say that some wicked beast hath devoured him, and let us see what his dreams will come to."

And the patriarchs, having indignation, sold Joseph into Egypt, and God was with him,

As for the foolish man, displeasure killeth him; and anger slayeth the ignorant.

A merry heart is the life of the body; but rancor consumeth away the bones.

And they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, "Ye have done enough. For all the multitude are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why therefore heave ye yourselves up above the congregation of the LORD?"

They angered Moses in the tents, and Aaron the saint of the LORD. So the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the congregation of Abiram. The fire was kindled in their company; the flame burnt up the ungodly.

When the Jews saw the people, they were full of indignation and spake against those things which were spoken of Paul; speaking against it, and railing on it.

But the Jews which believed not, having indignation, took unto them evil men which were vagabonds, and gathered a company, and set all the city on a roar, and made assault unto the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

he was the more afraid of David, and became David's enemy forever.

Then was Saul exceeding wroth and that saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousand, and to me but a thousand. And what more can he have, save the kingdom?" Wherefore Saul looked sourly upon David from that day forward.

For as long as the son of Jesse lieth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor yet thy kingdom; wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he is the child of death."

Then said Sarai unto Abram, "Thou dost me unright, for I have given my maid into thy bosom: and now because she seeth that she hath conceived, I am despised in her sight: the LORD judge between thee and me." Then said Abram to Sarai, "Behold, thy maid is in thy hand, do with her as it pleaseth thee." And because Sarai fared foul with her, she fled from her.

Sara saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had borne unto Abraham, a mocking. Then she said unto Abraham, "Put away this bondmaid and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac."

For ye are yet carnal. As long verily as there is among you envying, strife and dissension: are ye not carnal, and walk after the manner of men?

And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses which he had chosen out, answered and said, "Master Moses, forbid them." And Moses said unto him, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the LORD's people could prophesy, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them."

Again, I saw that all travail and diligence of labour was hated of every man. This is also a vain thing, and a vexation of mind.

When the Jews saw the people, they were full of indignation and spake against those things which were spoken of Paul; speaking against it, and railing on it.

But the Jews which believed not, having indignation, took unto them evil men which were vagabonds, and gathered a company, and set all the city on a roar, and made assault unto the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people.

And his brethren hated him, but his father noted the saying.

Therefore thus sayeth the LORD God: As truly as I live, I will handle thee according to thy wrath and jealousy, like as thou hast dealt cruelly with them - that I may be known among them, how I have punished thee.

Then was Saul exceeding wroth and that saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousand, and to me but a thousand. And what more can he have, save the kingdom?"

If any man be wise and endued with learning among you, let him show the works of his good conversation in meekness that is coupled with wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, rejoice not: neither be liars against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above: but is earthy, and natural, and devilish. read more.
For where envying and strife is, there is unstableness, and all manner of evil works:

he is puffed up and knoweth nothing: but wasteth his brains about questions, and strife of words, whereof spring envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings

Wherefore, lay aside all maliciousness, and all guile, and dissimulation, and envy, and all backbiting: and as newborn babes desire that reasonable milk which is without corruption, that ye may be grown therein.

Wrath is a cruel thing, and furiousness is a very tempest; yea, who is able to abide envy?

But Daniel exceeded all these princes and lords, for the spirit of God was plenteous in him: so that the king was minded to set him over the whole realm. Wherefore the princes and lords sought to pick out in Daniel some quarrel against the kingdom: yet could they find none occasion nor fault upon him. For why? He was so faithful, that there was no blame nor dishonesty found in him.

And Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, how they said, "Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and of our father's goods, hath he gotten all this honour."

LORD, when thine hand is lift up to strike, they see it not: but they shall see it, and be confounded, when thou shalt devour them with the wrath of the people, and with the fire of thine enemies.

being full of all unrighteous doing: of fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, evil-conditioned whisperers,

And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses which he had chosen out, answered and said, "Master Moses, forbid them." And Moses said unto him, "Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the LORD's people could prophesy, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them." And then both Moses and the elders of Israel, gat them into the host.

But in all this am I not satisfied as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."

but unto Cain and unto his offering, looked he not. And Cain was wroth exceedingly, and lowered.

And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian which he had taken: for he had taken a Ethiopian to wife. And they said, "Doth the LORD speak only through Moses? Doth he not speak also by us?" And the LORD heard it. But Moses was a very meek man, above all the men of the earth. read more.
And the LORD spake at once unto Moses, unto Aaron and Miriam, "Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of witness." And they came out all three. And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam. And they went out both of them. And he said, "Hear my words. If there be a prophet of the LORD's among you, I will show myself unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. But my servant Moses is not so, which is faithful in all mine house. Unto him I speak mouth to mouth and he seeth the sight and the fashion of the LORD, and not through riddles. Wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" And the LORD was angry with them and went his way, and the cloud departed from the tabernacle. And behold, Miriam was become leprous, as it were snow. And when Aaron looked upon Miriam and saw that she was leprous,

For he knew that the high priests had delivered him of envy.

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, rejoice not: neither be liars against the truth.

For where envying and strife is, there is unstableness, and all manner of evil works:

For we ourselves also were in times past, unwise, disobedient, deceived, in danger to lusts, and to divers manners of voluptuousness, living in maliciousness and envy, full of hate, hating one another.

Either do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, "The spirit that dwelleth in you, lusteth even contrary to envy,"

that he had possession of sheep, of oxen, and a mighty household; so that the Philistines had envy at him,

And Lea answered, "Is it not enough, that thou hast taken away my husband, but wouldest take away my son's mandragoras also?" Then said Rachel, "Well, let him sleep with thee this night, for thy son's mandragoras."

And Abel, he brought also of the firstlings of his sheep and of the fat of them. And the LORD looked unto Abel and to his offering: but unto Cain and unto his offering, looked he not. And Cain was wroth exceedingly, and lowered. And the LORD said unto Cain, "Why art thou angry, and why lowerest thou? Knowest thou not, if thou dost well thou shalt receive it? read more.
But and if thou dost evil, by and by thy sin lieth open in the door. Notwithstanding, let it be subdued unto thee, and see thou rule it." And Cain talked with Abel his brother. And as soon as they were in the fields, Cain fell upon Abel his brother and slew him.

And Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, how they said, "Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's, and of our father's goods, hath he gotten all this honour."

But in all this am I not satisfied as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."

When Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, she envied her sister and said unto Jacob, "Give me children, or else I am but dead."

Wherefore the princes and lords sought to pick out in Daniel some quarrel against the kingdom: yet could they find none occasion nor fault upon him. For why? He was so faithful, that there was no blame nor dishonesty found in him.

And his brethren hated him, but his father noted the saying.